Victim in Harlem Street shootings remembered as “bright light”

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Hundreds of mourners gathered today at a Mattapan church for the funeral of Kristen Lartey, a 22-year-old college graduate who was one of three young women killed in the Harlem Street shootings earlier this month.

In a service filled with raw emotion and pleas for healing, friends and family remembered Lartey as a dynamic spirit who led a purposeful life centered on her family and her faith.

“My cousin was a strong, vibrant, and knowledgable young woman,” said Kimberly Prescod, as the congregation in Jubilee Christian Church murmured in agreement. “She made our lives so much richer.”

Many of Lartey’s classmates from the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury and St. John’s University attended the service.

Lartey and two friends were gunned down while sitting in a car on Harlem Street on Aug. 12, a a crime that has horrified the city.

Kartey’s father, Agabus Lartey, said he did not hate whoever killed his daughter, and urged the congregation to hold no malice in their hearts.

“The Bible tells us we should not, in no way, shape, or form, have the spirit of vengeance,” said Lartey, a preacher. “Don’t waste your time or energy thinking evil about such people. They may escape the police, but they won’t escape a sovereign God.”

Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globepete.